What are the forces moving the Minnesota economy? Adam Belz tries to identify the trends and show the connections between Minnesota and the larger U.S. and global economies. You can connect with him on Twitter: @adambelz

Opening Belz, Sept. 9

LinkedIn is an “Escher staircase masquerading as a career ladder” – BafflerSpirit Airlines: Cheap but all too often late – StarTribuneObama under serious pressure from his left to kill the Keystone pipeline – New YorkerThe U.S. is “the picture of a jobless recovery” – Felix SalmonBig takedown of NYT editorial criticizing Larry Summers – Brad DeLongMight we have more manufacturing jobs than we think? – Washington PostWest-central MN is adding manufacturing jobs fast – StarTribuneTo Chinese scrap-metal hunter, American trash is treasure – BusinessweekLooking forward to Errol Morris’s film on Rumsfeld – YouTube